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Rome Travel Diary

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

Due to industrial placements and study abroad, my group of friends is getting flung around the globe next year, from Connecticut to Taiwan. We wanted to have one last hurrah which was when we started to plan a holiday. We settled on Rome as it would have the perfect combo of sunshine, sights to see and of course - Italian food! And what a fantastic trip it was, a few days after I returned from Berlin we went off to the Italian capital for 3 nights.

After we arrived at the apartment we were renting we decided to just walk around the city. We popped by the Trevi Fountain for a look and I have never seen a tourist attraction so busy, it was absolutely crazy. I didn't even get to throw coins into it as it was so crowded I couldn't actually get to the front! We also popped by the Colosseum for a look around the outside before we visited in the morning. After a quick pizza dinner, it was an early night seeing as we had to get up at 4 am for our flight and were all pretty tired!

Everything that we had read online said that the Colosseum gets totally queued out so we woke up early on our first morning so that we could get there at 9 am. We didn't have to wait in a queue at all which was great! Unfortunately, I'd caught a nasty cold so was a little brain dead but still really enjoyed roaming around and taking in all the history. I couldn't even begin to imagine what this place was really like back in the days where it was actually used for fighting! We were there for about 3 hours and it had gotten really busy by the time we'd left, so I'd really recommend going as early as you can.

The Colosseum ticket is valid for 48 hours and also includes entry to the Roman Forum. We'd originally planned on doing both back to back but quickly realised that it was far too hot/busy by the time we left the Colosseum so we headed back to our apartment for a siesta/lunch and decided to return to the forum the next morning. After lunch, our group split with some going to a church and the rest of us visiting a park. We took a leisurely stroll to the Orange Garden and stopped for coffee along the way. This park was one of the highlights of my trip as it had a fantastic view over the city and the relaxed atmosphere was lovely. I didn't take any photos of the park itself, just the view, but it was full of orange trees and was amazing well kept. The group reassembled for a slightly disappointing buffet dinner and then a second (and actually filling) pasta dinner immediately afterwards.

The next morning we went back to the Roman Forum to enjoy it properly. Again, we arrived early and didn't have to queue. I think I enjoyed this even more than the Colosseum! So much more to see and as it was so quiet early in the morning, we could take it at our own pace. We even found a rabbit enjoying the shade, perfect opportunity for me to test the zoom function on my new camera!

After another siesta, we went to the Villa Borghese - a huge and beautiful park. We visited a lot of parks in Rome and I'm so glad we did. They offered a bit of shade and the opportunity to relax. There's a lake in this park and we rented a row boat and had a paddle around. It was so much fun! I've never rowed before and I was actually pretty good at it! After that, we went out for one last Italian meal before our early flight back to Edinburgh in the morning. We went to a small place on a side street near our apartment and it was absolutely amazing!

Oh, and of course we stopped for gelato on the way home.

Rome was absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad I can finally say I've been to Italy. There's so much to see in Rome so I'll definitely be back one day to do some more exploring.